Latino education tied to state's fate

Updated 11:42 pm, Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Photo: Ralph Barrera, Associated Press

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Fifteen lawyers representing six different plaintiff groups crowded one side of the Travis County courtroom of state District Judge John Dietz on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 in Austin, TX. to launch the sweeping school finance trial involving about two-thirds of Texas school districts. Judge Dietz listens to opening remarks in his courtroom. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Ralph Barrera) less

Fifteen lawyers representing six different plaintiff groups crowded one side of the Travis County courtroom of state District Judge John Dietz on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 in Austin, TX. to launch the sweeping ... more

Photo: Ralph Barrera, Associated Press

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Lawyers launched a school finance trial involving about two-thirds of Texas' school districts in October.

Lawyers launched a school finance trial involving about two-thirds of Texas' school districts in October.

Photo: Associated Press

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Fifteen lawyers representing six different plaintiff groups crowded one side of the Travis County courtroom of state District Judge John Dietz on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 in Austin, Texas to launch the sweeping school finance trial involving about two-thirds of Texas school districts. Some of those 15 attorneys including from L-R: Rick Gray, David Hinojosa, David Thompson, representing AISD, and Mark Trachtenberg, stand as Judge Dietz enters the courtroom for the start of opening remarks. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Ralph Barrera)

Fifteen lawyers representing six different plaintiff groups crowded one side of the Travis County courtroom of state District Judge John Dietz on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 in Austin, Texas to launch the sweeping

During opening testimony of a school-funding lawsuit, Murdock said by 2050, Texas will be home for 12 million non-Hispanic whites and 31 million Hispanics.

Hispanic children will make up nearly two-thirds of the state's public school enrollment, while the percentage of Anglo children, now about 30 percent, will have dropped to 15.5 percent, said Murdock, Texas' first official state demographer.

The purpose of Murdock's testimony was to highlight the importance of all Texas children receiving an adequate education to show the consequences if Texas fails to deliver, lawyer Richard Gray told state District Judge John Dietz.

Gray represents one group of school districts in the lawsuit that includes more than 600 districts that claim the state isn't providing adequate funding to educate 5 million students.

Some of the districts also complain that funding disparities exceeding $2,000 per child make the system unconstitutionally inequitable and inefficient — as the Texas Supreme Court ruled in the 1989 landmark Edgewood case.

“What we can do for education becomes not only important for the individuals who get the education. It's important for their households and their family,” Murdock told the court. “It's important for their communities. It's important for businesses of their communities because there's more money to spend on a variety of goods and services... and it helps in term of tax revenue.”

About 8 percent of Texas' non-Hispanic whites have less than a high school education compared to 40.4 percent among Hispanics, Murdock said.

Education remains the best predictor of economic success, he emphasized. In 2010, one in 10 Texas Anglos lived in poverty, compared to more than one in four Hispanics, Murdock said.

The state's future depends on Hispanics, since they will make up most of the population growth in the coming decades, he said.

“Their need is our need in the sense that how well minority population groups do in Texas is how well Texas will do,” Murdock said.

White non-Hispanic children made up 75 percent of Humble ISD's school enrollment 12 years ago. Today, Anglo children are a minority (46 percent) of the district's enrollment.

In the past 12 years, the percentage of low-income children in the Humble ISD has increased from 15.9 percent to 35 percent.

“Virtually everything (Murdock's) data showed is the experience we have had in our community,” Humble ISD Superintendent Guy Sconzo said.

The Humble school district is struggling with the state's new accountability standards and budget cuts.

More than 1,100 Humble ninth-grade students failed at least one of the new end of course tests last spring, and 1,050 students failed a retesting after summer remediation.

Humble ISD taxpayers approved a maximum school operations tax rate of $1.l7 for the 2008-09 school year that generated an extra $17.9 million per year — but the district then lost $24.2 million when state lawmakers cut $5.4 billion from public education last year.

“In one fell swoop that (local tax) revenue went away,” Sconzo said.

San Benito CISD Superintendent Antonio Limon is scheduled to testify today about the impact of inequitable school funding on schools, including his property-poor school district in South Texas, near Harlingen.